The Longest Day
On the day previous to today I awoke and began my work. The day passed without interest and before I knew it all was done. I had finished before the others and returned to the big house to eat my dinner. The sun cycled as it always does and set and I felt very tired, not because I had done so much but because I had done so little. On that night my dreams were more real and powerful then ever. In my dreams nymphs pleasured themselves in songs that called out to me to come forth and live. I tried to talk to them and ask what they meant but they only responded with more songs. I tried to understand their meaning but to no avail. In the early morning before dawn, directly after these dreams, I was pulled from my bed by an unknown force and there I stood preparing myself for the day. I gathered my tools and a loaf of bread and headed for the fields. I began the first of my toils and before I knew it I was more than half way done. I looked toward the bunkhouse and I could see the others stirring. I moved on working hard not thinking of where the finish line was but of how much more I could do. Before lunch I finished more than I wanted to do for the entire day but onward I worked, and I was happy all the time. The others worked though I could tell most of them were already preparing for lunch and soon they headed for the house joyous of their accomplishments so far and eager to celebrate as they gorged themselves. I moved on looking for more to do, and that I found. There were fields that I had not seen and others that I had not visited in ages and all the time I was happy. My colleges returned but I noticed they seemed less eager to work and more attuned to finding an end to it all, a finish line. Onward the sun cycled about its daily schedule, to the west, and I was not so happy to see it all ending so soon, it seemed so quick and wanted to live more. And as the final ray of the glorious day retreated so did the others. I could see moments of celebration through the windows of the big house and they were very pleased to have another day come to an end, but I was not so ready to celebrate this finish, I wanted to live. So I sat there admiring the stars as they blossomed in the darkening sky and imagined all the possibilities that awaited me the next day when I would awake and began to live again. So onward I continue to hike.
justhike